Bag construction



May 22, 1962 A. A. MEISTER BAG CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec.51, 1956 United States Patent Ofilice 3,035,754 Patented May 22, 19623,035,754 BAG CONSTRUCTION Albert A. Meister, River Forest, 111.,assignor to Bagcraft Corporation of America, Chicago, 111., acorporation of Illinois Filed Dec. 31, 1956, Ser. No. 631,871 1 Claim.(Cl. 229-53) This invention relates to a bag construction, whichconstruction is particularly useful in paper bags.

Certain types of bags are automatically filled by machine. Among thesethere is a type which has a front side and a back side, each havingedges joined together by internally directed pleats, the bottom beingfolded upwardly to close that end. Bags of this type are typically usedto package ice cream bars and are typically constructed of suitablepaper or foil covered paper.

One way in which some of these bags are used is as follows. Severalhundred bags are lined up in a chute that has a curved downward slopeand there is a weight behind the bags pressing them forward. The firstbag in line (see FIGURE is held by a plate which is downwardly directedand which holds the upper lip of the bag. At the bottom of the chute,there are two small flanges that extend inward about Ms inch from eitheredge of the bag and about /2 inch upward from the bottom of the bag. Thebag is thus held at the lip and is held lightly by the two flangesholding the bottom corners, such holding all being in cooperation withthe weight of the bags in the chute. There is a constant stream of airblowing down into the bag from a nozzle which is intended to open thebag so that the bag may receive the ice cream bars or other articleswhich are ejected from above and which drops down a tube that ispositioned just above the mouth of the bag (not shown). If the bag isblown open properly, the force of the bar dropping into the bag jars thebag out from its position, since the bag is held lightly at the threepoints mentioned above. The bagged bar drops onto a conveyor belt (notshown) and as soon as the bag has dropped out of position, the bagbehind it moves into place and is blown open ready to receive 1 the nextbar or other contents.

The loading operation does not always proceed as smoothly as isdescribed above. Instead, particularly in the case of bags made ofcertain materials such as foil, the bag, instead of being blown open,bends at a point between the upper and lower edges of the bag. Thisproduces dead folds, i.e. partially collapsed pleats. As a result, thehorizontal bend occurs transversely to the length of the bag, that isacross the bag from one edge to the other. When this happens, the airdoes not open the bag fully, and the contents, such as an ice cream bar,does not go all the way into the bag.

I have invented a bag construction which obviates the foregoingdifficulty. Briefly, this bag construction permits the foregoingequipment to grasp the bag without contacting its front surface, wherebythe front folds or pleats are not restricted so that the air may fullyopen every bag.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a bag whichmay reliably be blown open fully by an air stream.

Another object of this invention is to provide a bag which may be usedin automatic packaging machinery and in which the packaging machinerywill not prevent the bag from being blown to the fully open position.

It is an object of this invention to provide a bag construction wherebyfoil bags may be made which may reliably be blown open every time.

Still another object of this invention is the provision of a bagconstruction which may be easily manufactured by automatic machinery.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a bag constructionwhich may be reliably used on automatic machinery.

Other objects, features and advantages of this invention will beapparent from the following detailed description of the attached sheetsof drawings, which by way of a preferred embodiment illustrate theinvention.

On the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a reduced scale plan view illustrating how a blank takenfrom a strip of material may be folded to produce the structure of thisinvention;

FIGURE 2 is a front view of the bag;

FIGURE 3 is a rear view of the bag;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged top view of the bag shown in FIGURES 2 and 3;

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view showing how the bag is being blown openwhile being held at three points preparatory to filling; and

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged top view of the bag similar to FIGURE 4, butwith the bag blown open as shown in FIGURE 5.

As shown on the drawings:

Referring to FIGURE 1, there is shown a reduced scale view of a bagblank made from a continuous strip, the blank of FIGURE 1 having beensevered from the strip at its upper and lower edges. For convenience,the view as shown in FIGURE 1 will be considered to be that portion ofthe material which will define the inner surface of the bag. At itscenter, there is a front wall 10, and rear wall portions 11a and 11b.The front wall 10 has edges 12 and 13. As is more clearly seen when thebag is assembled, the rear wall 11 has corresponding edges 14 and 15which are adjacent to edges 12 and 13 respectively. Intermediate edges14 and 12 are at least a plurality of connected panels 16 and 17 whichare also connected to each other. Panel 16 is connected at edge 14 torear side 11, while panel 17 is connected at edge 12 to front side 10.Similarly, panels 18 and 19 are connected to each other. Panel 18 isjoined at edge 13 to front side 10 and a panel 19 is joined at edge 15to rear side 11.

The plurality of panels which interconnect the edges of the front andrear side may be collectively denoted as folds or as pleats, each ofwhich plurality is asymmetrical.

In assembling the bag from the position shown in FIGURE 1, panels 17 and18 are folded inwardly over the front side 10 as shown. Panels 16 and 19are directed outwardly at folds 22 and 23 respectively and overliepanels 17 and 18 respectively. Rear side portion 11a is folded overpanels 16 while rear side portion 11b is folded over panel 19.

It will be noted that the rear side portion 11b is somewhat wider thanis rear side portion 11a so that an area of overlap occurs which may besealed. Of course, this sealed overlap may be placed anywhere within thebag construction so long as it does not interfere with the action of thefolds or pleats. Once assembled, this overlapping seal has no specialfunction and therefore it is apparent that this bag could be made fromtubular seam less material.

At this point, the bottom portion of front side 10, denoted at 20, maybe folded over back side 11. Of course, all the depending portions ofthe various sides and panels will be folded therewith to close thebottom of the bag. The curving of the upper and lower ends of the backside portions results in less paper appearing in the bottom of the bag,and produces an upper lip portion 21 which is integral with the backside 11 at the top of die bag.

It will be noted thatback side 11 is wider than front side 10. It Willalso be noted that panels 16 and 19 are respectively wider than panels17 and 18. This difference in width of sides and panels produces afolded structure such as is most clearly shown in FIGURES 2-4. Thus, asbest seen in FIGURE 2, the back side 11 extends beyond the front side10, the outside of the wider panels 16 and 19 being joined to the rearside 11 and being accessible from the front without contacting orotherwise touching the front side 10, and thus also leaving the pleat orfold formed by the shorter panels 17 and 13 acting with front side 10free without restraint if the bag be held by the upper lip 21 and'at theprojecting portions of the back side 11 and panels 16 and 19.

Thus the bag is assembled and installed in the packaging machinery inflat form as shown from the front in FIGURE 2 and as shown from the rearin FIGURE 3.

A top view of FIGURE 2 appears at FIGURE 4, somewhat enlarged forclarity.

FIGURE illustrates in diagrammatic form the essential feature ofautomatic packaging machinery which readies this bag for filling. Thebag has been advanced in a chute so that it arrives at the fillingstation in fiat form as shown in FIGURE 4.

At this point, fingers A, B and C respectively engage the projectingedges of panel 19, panel 16 and lip 21. The bag is held against thesefingers by other bags pressing against back side 11 and serving to holdthe bag in position as indicated in FIGURE 5. An air source D, comingthrough a nozzle located adjacent to a plate or finger C causes air tobe blown into the interior of the bag, causing it to blossom or to open.It will be noted that the various fingers have no contact with the frontside nor with panels 18 and 17, and have a very limited contact withpanels 16 and 19, adjacent to the closed end of the bag.

Accordingly, the respective pleats readily open up to a fully openposition so that the bar or other contents may be dropped into the bagfrom a feeding chute adjacent to the nozzle (not shown). The weight ofthe goods in the bag causes the bag to slip downwardly out of position,thereby permitting positioning the next bag in place for filling.

Thus, by this invention, a structure has been provided which has arelatively narrow front face which is positioned between the two bottomflanges or fingers A and B which thereby cannot act on the front face 10to prevent full and complete blowing open of the bag. Thus when thefront side or face is blown open all the way down to the bottom of thebag, the bar or other contents can drop to the bottom of the bag.

I have also discovered in actual tests of bags having the constructiondescribed herein, wherein only two bag thicknesses plus two foldthicknesses are pinched by the fingers A and B, there is less chance offailure of the bag to drop away from the three fingers due to theinfluence of the contents. Thusby having only two thicknesses along theedges 15 and 14 and four thicknesses at the fold, where the bag may beheld, a more reliable release has also been obtained.

It will be understood that numerous modifications and variations may beeffected without departing from the scope of the present invention, butit is understood that this application is to be limited only by thescope of the appended claim.

I claim as my invention:

A tubular bag comprisingv material having such flexibility as to offerno substantial resistance to billowing, said material being alongitudinal increment of an elongated web of said material, said bagincluding a front side, a wider rear side, each of said sides havingcorresponding opposite parallel edges extending throughout the length ofthe bag and joined together by a pleat having a plurality of integrallyconnected panels of unequal width, the narrower of said panels beingintegrally joined to one of said edges of said front side and directedtoward the opposite edge of said front side, the wider of said panelsextending beyond said one edge of said front side and being integrallyjoined to an edge of said Wider rear side, said wider rear sidecomprising a pair of por-. tions overlappingly joined to one anotheralong a region intermediate said edges, said overlapping portionsjointly defining a lip portion integral with said wider rear side andextending beyond one, end of said front side, and means closing theother end of said bag, said means including a closing tab integral withsaid sides and said pleats and defined by a fold line extendingtransversely to said sides and said pleats, said tab being disposed inflatwise abutting relation directly against the rear face of said widerside and secured directly thereto to expose the front face of said widerpleat panel throughout the length thereof and wherein the front facethereof is unobstructed immediately adjacent to said fold line; wherebysaid bag may be held at said lip and at said wider pleat panelsimmediately adjacent to said fold line and billowed without oppositionby the structure of the bag to billowing.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

